Buckeye Diesel Blast review & results - DIESEL Motorsports!

This event started in Zanesville Ohio by a good friend and DIESEL Motorsports Director Chuck Rucker of New Era Diesel over 10 years ago. Chuck and Tracy ran the show at their local fairgrounds as a sled pull where many of the Ohio pullers came to have some fun with their diesels. They ran it there a couple of years and then moved it to National Trails as part of the then new NADM (DIESEL Motorsports). We held it at National Trails for quite a few years until the track start to fall apart. 

We now hold it at Marion County International Raceway owned by the same family since it opened in the 1970s. Many big names have raced there like Garlits, Mongoose and Force, it is interesting to go inside of their tower and look at the old photos when these names were starting to build the sport.

This track is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cornfields but no one cares if our diesels burn rubber, blow smoke and make a little noise day or night. A perfect place to hold a friendly get together of Ohio diesel trucks to watch a few compete and look at each other's trucks for inspiration.

You could not have asked for a better day than September 24th in Ohio, cool in the morning and pleasant during the day! DIESEL Motorsports started out with slicks only racing which had some fast trucks but very few showed up for letting them have a prepped surface for four hours by themselves. This shows the really fast trucks still are in small numbers and continue to struggle to run down the tracks. We did see some high speed runs by Bruce Block (winner 149 mph) and Lavon Mill/Firepunk (2nd 159mph)!

It was a different story for the regular street trucks in racing and pulling in the Work Stock class. There we're trucks coming ion all day long for the afternoon and evening competitions. The Mothers Show-N-Shine had some really nice trucks along with some beautiful 1st Generation Dodges.

The pulling had some very high end Work Stock trucks but the winner was 71 year old John Shew from Indiana in his dually Dodge out pulling everyone with 304.08 feet. The track was a little wet and messy but it was the same for everyone and we had more than one full pull for those who knew how to work the track.

The Semi trucks put on a great show which we saved for last pulling well over 300 feet by many of the trucks. It was a late night for those who showed up at 9am and leaving around 10pm but it was a diesel day for enthusiasts and competitors.

Diesel Motorsports wants to thank Mark and Kelly at Marion County International Raceway for having us back for the Buckeye Diesel Blast for 2016! It was a beautiful day with lots of trucks, families and great diesel competition from some unbelievable trucks! This is always a fun event with lots of corn, sunshine and food! Below the winners of the day's activities!

A big thank you to Fuelab, G&R Diesel, Action Exhaust, Diesel Life, Firepunk and Tater Built for being the sponsors and vendors!

Buckeye Diesel Blast Winners 2016

Unlimited Drag Racing
Bruce Block - Champion
Lavon Miller - Runner-up

12.0 Index Drag Racing
Larson Miller - Champion
Karl Mireiter - Runner up

ET Bracket Drag Racing
Larson Miller - Champion
Kyle Mireiter - Runner-up

Top Diesel Drag racing
Greg Hogue - Champion

Sled Pulling
Semi Class
Rodney Horton 374.01
Paul Davis 353.01
Pat Altenbach 349.03
Jeff McCullough 337.09
Mark Scott 309.01
Mitchell Scott 307.11
Kevin Oldham 298.07
Don Aiken 290.07
Rodney Horton 256.11

2.6/3.0 Class
Joe Slingluff 360
Brian Shew 326.02
Dan Constantine 305.08
Gregg Temple 298.04
Zac McClellan 296.01
Jesse Warren Broke

2.5 Class
Doug Linden 303.02
Derick Amos 297.08
james etgen 294.01
John Sherman 286.02
Ryan Kunkle 282.06
Mason Cartright 281.02
Scott House 268.1
Todd Etgen 258
Jeff Meese 251.08
Doug Wilson 240.1
Clifford T Scott 224.11

Tater Built Work Stock Class
John Shew 304.08
Woody Heiman 299.11
Trevor Hill 294.11
Brock Rohrs 294.02
Josh Rose 288.09
Eric Rychener 286.04
Drew Maple 284.09
Mark Banister 281.05
Kyle Wert 281
Danny Tittle 278.1
Daniel Murray 276.02
Shawn Bell 275
JJ Holden 273.1
Manny Morckle 270.11
Zach Frazier 266.03
Zach Peabody 266.02
Mike Peabody 264.04
Jeff Meese 263.07
Tyson Emmerion 261.04
John Trowbridge 258
Doug Wilson 256
John Saunders 255.06
Curtis Trent 252.09
Cody Camstock 238.05
Tucker Burson 236.07
John Heiselman 234.11
Karl Miremer 200

Mothers Show-N-Shine
Best of Show
Jason Kistler - Orange 2001 Silverado
Best Dodge
Tanner Huntsman - 1993 Dodge Ram Black/White
Best Ford
Tom Schuman - 2010 Ford F-250 Red

Rollin Coal on the Streets - all the talk!

Several people sent me another article written by people who know nothing about our sport or the diesel industry. Yes it was centered around the few kids blowing large amounts of black smoke all over a crowd or a Prius at a stop light.

In the article they described it as a new fun thing to do by people who tune their trucks just for shooting out black smoke on people and they attacked the sled pulling sport by saying that is where the root of the problem lies.

Obviously this person did little research since diesel truck sled pulling is now going on close to 20 years by some of the older pulling people in the sport. It's funny they talked about diesel trucks blowing black smoke and showed a tractor pulling. Tractor pulling has been a sport for over 50 years so they totally got that wrong.

They are a bit late and behind the ball on reporting this since it was at it's peak around 2005 when many young people were Rollin Coal and brought attention to the diesel truck industry. As the diesel trucks became more electronic tuned it was quite easy to dial up or down the fuel consumption when you needed it for power or play.

When 2008 rolled into production with the new EPA Diesel Particulate Filter installed the truck enthusiasts quickly removed these and re-tuned their computers. They were having to re-tune the computer anyway when they changed the size of the tires in order to match the speedometer and rpm gauges.

Now this was still a cottage industry and mostly rural by most counts, the farmers were requiring dealers (many still do) to remove the DPFs because it was overheating and catching their fields and trucks on fire. The rural owners started to tune them up for sled pulling and drag racing then dialing them down for the streets when they want better mpg.

As always things got out of hand and many people saw they could make millions of dollars of changing and tuning the newer trucks. The government decided to step in around 2011-12 and put an end to people changing their own vehicles for their purpose. It took them close to four years to do so.

The regular diesel maintenance and performance industry all warned them to not do this and draw attention to the vehicles. But some did not listen and some did in the industry. When the large tuning companies openly advertised DPF delete kits and tuning it really brought the government down on them quickly. By the end of 2012 all the tuning companies were under attack by the EPA and many faced stiff fines.

Now understand the diesel performance industry along with trucking companies that delivers your groceries, plows your streets and collects your trash still has to operate daily. Many diesel shops were hurt by the action taken by the EPA. But the stronger diesel shops remained open because of the maintenance part of the business.

Many do not know that quality diesel shops refuse to do the smoke "lope" tune because it is a sign of poor tuning. Many do no know that DIESEL Motorsports has had a "no smoke street policy" for over 9 years.

The events we hold throughout the country is like the NHRA giving racers a legal place to burn tires, blow smoke, and compete in a private legal environment. Our classes racing and pulling have competitors who trailer their competition vehicles into the event. These are not licensed for the street and I for one can tell you it would not be a pleasant ride down the street in these vehicles.

Just like any competition vehicles the trucks are for competition only and DO NOT fall under EPA guidelines for smoking. Many of the photos shown in the article were trailered vehicles which were not licensed for street.

STOP our performance industry and millions of dollars and jobs will cease in this country that has made a legend of customizing your vehicle, racing or showing your vehicle as a sport. GONE would be the NHRA, IHRA, NASCAR, Monster trucks, circle track racing, mudding, BAJA racing, off-road racing, sled pulling and the list is long!

Do diesel people like performance in their truck, yes we do just like performance gas people! Do we like the environment? YES we do because many are rural people who farm, fish, hunt and camp out. If you ask 90% of the people at our diesel events they would tell you smoking people out is not cool!

So let's respect fellow drivers on the street no matter what vehicle they are in and leave the competition diesels at the track where we can provide a legal place to compete.

We want to draw positive attention to our sport, not negative by someone who has no knowledge of how much diesel vehicles are in our work force and industries.

Why do we ask competitors to put on decals at events??? DIESEL Motorsports

We get asked this quite often since we have so many sponsors!

The answer: We ask to put them on because that is who is putting the monies up for the purse monies!

What people don't understand is the amount of funds it takes to open the gates at an event and what the purse monies add up to for an event. Most events are $15-30,000 just for the purse monies. 

Sure you may get only $250 or $500 but add that up times 30-40 times on different scales. It all adds up to big money and the sponsor's funds we receive goes toward the purses. The gate monies pays for the overhead of the event, equipment, personnel and insurance.

Done Correctly!

So in order for the sponsor to get their name displayed on a vehicle we ask that the competitors put on the decals. We all know how much social media means in today's marketplace. If your truck is competing and a photo or video is taken by countless people in the crowd then it is displayed showing their name.

That is why they give us the monies is to advertise and market their name so they can sell product. If they didn't sell product why would they give our sport monies to give-away to competitors.

You can put them on the windows left or right or both and the back. They peel off easily if you do not want them on there but they do show you support the sport and you can compete with your truck. Since DIESEL Motorsports hold a monthly event from April till October you may want to leave them on if you plan to attend every event.

If you want to know why some trucks get featured all of the time? It's because they do come to DM events and they display the sponsor's decals properly in a nice orderly way on their truck. I have seen some just stick them in a blob on top of each other, we do not feature that truck even if it wins.

Wrong Way!

If you don't mind cashing our checks for competing then you shouldn't mind putting on our decals! Many other promoters pay weeks after the event or even months, DM pays right at the track 90% of the time unless someone takes off before collecting. That means you get your winnings as soon as you get to the bank.

Now think about how that is possible - the SPONSORS! Please support by displaying the decals and buying their products!

Old dog saying: Don't bite hand that feeds you, you may not get fed again!